YAFS - Yet another first spoon

[ganstey]

Hi all,

Inspired by the good folks here I had a go at carving my first spoon a few weeks ago. It was made out of Beech which had seasoned for about a month. In hindsight I should have selected a softer wood for my first attempt Anyway, thought you might like to see my effort (hopefully the link will work)

From the top

From the side

Graham

 

[ganstey]

OK, so can someone help me with the images please

 

[michiel]

Here you go:

 

[ganstey]

Cheers Michiel. I found the hyperlink button but not the 'insert picture' button :sulkoff:

Graham

 

[Greg]

Your spoon is alot better than my first one by far!
Mine was pants , nice work mate!

 

[benp1]

wow, good work

I was struggling with try to do so dry wood, don't think you could call it seasoned, it was a bit of 2 x 2 pine, and on a meet i was told to sack it off, too hard to carve

tried it with a bit of green wood and SO much easier

have made a few since, the green wood really helps

 

[ganstey]

Thanks for the feedback. When I get a bit more time I'll have a go at another one. That one was made as a birthday present for a friend, and it now lives in Switzerland.

Graham

 

[John Fenna]

As to the green versus seasoned wood argument - green is easier but might split as it dries (if you are very unlucky!) and as long as your blades are sharp seasoned is not impossible to carve...I have made spoons from seasoned oak (Victorian furniture recycled so I mean SEASONED) and Boxwood before now. Slow to work but worth the effort IMHO.
Nice spoon you have and it should mellow in colour as you use it.
John

 

[benp1]

i didn't know it was that hard to do it once it was dry. i carved out the spoon ok but left the bowl. when i started the bowl it was rock solid, and given my inexperience with the spoon knife there was more chance to me carving my a digit than the bowl

 

[ganstey]

It wasn't too bad, and I did only cut myself twice - although one of those was when I managed to stab the end of my thumb with the point of the spoon knife:aargh4: I did end up with a very impressive blister from the back of the spoon knife (I must take a file to it sometime).

Graham

 

[Dougster]

I wish most of mine were that good, let alone my first.

That blister - I still get one every time!

 

[ganstey]

Cheers Dougster, I was really chuffed with how it turned out. I had a design in my head, but in the end I just followed what the wood and the grain seemed to want to be. Nature is a much better designer than I am

Next time I think I'll try and make one that's a bit daintier. It was fine for my gob, but my friend has a dainty mouth. I think she uses it as a serving spoon

Graham

 

[Chainsaw]

very nice, still lining up to do my first one, a wee stirrer for my brew kit doesn't count.

I had an attempt using holly but that turned out to be probably the hardest wood in my woodpile so it's currently 'seasoning' somewhere in the back corner of my garage, where I threw it

Beech looks nice, may have a look for some of that, again nice work!

Cheers,

Alan

 

[bondy]

nice spoon mate looks great.bondy

 

[jon r]

Nice spoon! especially for your first! Looks like you could get a lot of grub in that bowl and it had good shape from a side view!

 

[OFarrell]

That is a great spoon, excellent! ....I never got round to finishing mine! It's been about 2 months since the course so hopefully it will still be as easy to carve as before. I see you went for the thicker neck part of the spoon, wise choice...I saw a few people snapping theirs before completion due to wittling down too thin, such a shame! I have a few chunks of sycamore put a side for carving....Christmas shall be a bit cheaper this year!

 

[spamel]

Nice job. I did one in seasoned sweet chestnut which wasn't too bad. As for the cuts, make a leather thimble. Basically, cut out a piece of leather or cardboard about the length of your thumb from the end of the nail to the first knuckle and maybe a few millimetres wider than your thumb. It'll be oval in shape. Then, get a scalpel or sharp blade and cut around the edge, about 2 or 3 millimetres in. Cut half way around the edge of the pad, so that you have a large C shaped cut. Lift the C on the edge up and you can slip your thumb in, with the oval piece on the pad of your thumb. It'll stop you slicing little bits of skin out of your thumb.

 

[Matt Weir]

Nice spoon Graham.

 

[SOAR]

nice one fella really good spoon I've only tried Beech once it is a hard wood. The more you make the better they get, you will find yourself trying different shapes and sizes, and before you know it you will have a kitchen full, my wife goes mad at me because we have more spoons than anything else, hence I've moved on to leather work now, pretty soon I will have more knife sheaths and possibles pouches than spoons, and ear ache from the wife.

 

[spamel]

You need to carve some ear plugs then Simon!